OOPS !

It must be embarrassing for New South Wales Treasurer Mike Baird to have to admit that someone goofed when they did this state's sums - and a billion dollars suddenly reappeared to take the bottom line from deficit to surplus.

Now comes the use of spin to explain away that little mistake.   It seems that we have gone from a deficit of $ 337 million to a surplus of $ 680 million because of a few spreadsheet mistakes, incorrect data entries and faulty reconciliations - and we are assured that despite the impression of a surplus, we are really still in deficit because it is only Federal grants that are propping up the bottom line.

That seems a strange way of thinking.  The whole system revolves around a complicated network of monetary exchange.   The Feds collect the GST and reimburse the states according to a formula and across the entire spectrum of services there are shared costs.   Money changes hands as both the Federal and state systems reimburse one another within a complicated memo of understandings.

The sticking point will be the savage cuts imposed on health and education to relieve that expected state deficit.  The Opposition will demand that they be reversed, but both these services have been expanding beyond the state's capacity to pay - and it is time they faced a reality check.    Reality decrees that we must work smarter and cut out waste to deliver more efficient health and education services and these budget cuts will ensure that spending is closely examined to give good value.

In recent decades, New South Wales has lagged behind the other eastern states.   This has been evident in most aspects of life.   Plans for extending the rail system have been announced - and then cancelled.  A lot of bad mistakes were made in trying to improve the arterial road system within Sydney.  Inertia ruled when changes became necessary to bring trading conditions for industry into line with overseas expectations.  We simply failed to perform to an expected standard.

A new government in it's first term has the opportunity to reverse that inertia. It may not be popular to trim back some services, but money needs to be spent where it will do the most good and that means putting every avenue of expense under the microscope.   Not only do we need to reduce slothful spending, we also need to start grading the state's needs in order of priority - and stop avoiding decision making to get them under way.

So far, some of the signs are good.   Work has started on a long promised railway extension.  Darling Harbour is about to close for a rejuvenation that will include much needed convention facilities,  The Sydney ferry fleet is in private hands and expansion plans are well advanced.   A major project is starting to create a new business centre in the inner city, utilising the old gas works site at Barangaroo.

We urgently need to settle the long delayed question of Sydney;s second airport, but most of all the entire regimen of business administration needs a shake-up.  There are too  any outdated laws and red tape stopping the creation of new business or the expansion of existing companies.   A breath of fresh air through the labyrinth of regulations that impede all forms of progress is long overdue.

This is the twenty-first century.   Sticking to the old ways of doing things is no longer tenable !